RIPPLE SALVO… #474… “Get your nose up, get some power on…Get some altitude!..” … but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY-FOUR of a remembrance of the air war over North Vietnam fought fifty years ago…
22 JUNE 1967…HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a cloudy, rainy Thursday in Brooklyn…
SIX-DAY WAR: Page 1: “British Proposes Special U.N. Aide to Assay Mideast–Brown Says Official Would Formulate–For a New Peacekeeping Force–Arabs Press Demands–Yugoslavia and India Join U.A.R. Call for Israel to Withdraw Her Troops..”... “The United Arab Republic led demands for Israels punishment through condemnation by the General Assembly and withdrawal of her forces from occupied areas and the payment of reparations for damage inflicted during the six-day war that began June 5…India supports this based on three principles. First, A country cannot start a war merely because it feels it’s security is threatened and without recourse to permanent provisions of the United National Charter. second, no aggressor can be permitted to retain the fruits of aggression. Third, it is impermissible to acquire the territory of another state in order to bargain from a position of strength. Finally, rights cannot be settled, boundaries cannot be adjusted through armed conflict.”…. Page 1: “Gromyko Meets With Rusk–Talks Are Broad As Meeting of Johnson and Kosygin Hangs in Balance”... “Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko surveyed a broad range of outstanding issues between the Soviet Union and the United States last night with the possibility of a summit meeting hanging in the balance.”… Page 1: “Soviets Said to Urge Egyptians to Accept Talks on Settlement…De Gaulle Blames Israelis For the War; But Also Terms Conflict a Product of Intervention of United States in Vietnam.”…
Page 1: “A.M.A. In Reversal Favors Liberalizing Abortion Laws”... “The American Medical Association policy making committee of the 242 member House of Delegates is expected to speed a slowly developing trend toward the liberalization of state abortion lows. It marked the association’s first policy change since 1871 and was adopted by a voice vote.”… “Page 1 “Luci Makes President a Grand-father for first time...an eight-pound boy named Patrick Lyndon Nugent in honor of his father and grandfather.”...Page 1: “Rise in National Debt Limit to $358-Billion Approved by House”… Page 1: “Cassius Clay Files Notice to Fight Conviction...a five-year sentence and $10,000 fine.”… Page 1: “16 Negroes Seized; Plot to Kill Roy Wilkens and Whitney Young Charged”… “Twelve men and four women described as members of a Negro revolutionary group, were arrested yesterday in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan on charges ranging from plotting to murder moderate civil rights leaders to burning a subway station and advocating anarchy. One additional arrest was made in Philadelphia.”… Page 3: In Geneva “Fred Friendly Tells World Press Unit That Newspapers Are Outmoded... the former president of news at Columbia Broadcasting System, said that radio and television news coverage had advanced to the point where you will never read a major event–unless it is an exclusive story–in a newspaper for the first time.”…
Page 1: “New Clash Reported in Central Vietnam...in the Central Highlands north of Kontom…In another battle in the Mekong Delta, 17 miles south of Saigon, 172 Vietcong guerrillas were killed in a fight that also took the lives of 27 American soldiers and wounded 126 more. The Army’s 1st Cavalry engaged the enemy 136 miles southwest of Danang and killed 30 North Vietnamese and reported 20 1st Cavalry Division troops were wounded. Near the DMZ the battle was an exchange of mortar and artillery fire.”…
Page 18: Full Page Ad for Elaine Shepard’s new book “DOOM PUSSY”…endorsed by Arthur Godfrey: “A Great War Book Every American should read it”…Army Times: “Should be required reading for bleeding heart pacifists.”… The London Free Press: “The hawks will love Miss Shepard’s book, the doves will probably ‘coo’ shame.”… Los Angeles Examiner : “A love letter of tribute to the fighting men in Vietnam. Everyone should read Elaine’s story.”…
22 JUNE 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (23 June reporting 22 June) Page 2: “In the air war: Among the targets of the United States pilots was the Thainguyen iron and steel complex 38-miles north of Hanoi. It was the 18th time that the complex has been struck since February 1965…United States pilots also struck hard at railroad networks, communications lines and industrial areas north and south of Hanoi in North Vietnam. The bombing ranged from targets 45-miles north of Hanoi to the southern panhandle which extends from the city of Vinh, 150 miles south of Hanoi to the border with South Vietnam.”... Page 3: “Power Plant Bombed”… “United States Navy bombers attacked the North Vietnamese power plant at Nam Dinh yesterday, 16 miles south of Hanoi and Air Force jets based in Thailand struck rail yards and bridges north of Hanoi. One plane was lost to enemy ground fire. It was the 588th aircraft downed in the air war. The pilot is missing…. the Navy Skyhawks from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin were said to have touched off a large explosion and fire with their 1.000-pound and 2,000-pound bombs at Nam Dinh. The plant produced about 7,500 kwh of electric power.”… Hanoi Claims 3 Planes”… “The North Vietnamese press agency said that three United States planes were shot down over North Vietnam.”…
“Vietnam: Aircraft Losses” (Chris Hobson)…There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 22 June 1967…
(1) LCDR JAMES GLENN PIRIE was flying an A-4E of the VA-93 Blue Blazers embarked in USS Hancock on an air wing strike on the Hai Du0ng railway bridge halfway between Hanoi and Haiphong. LCDR PIRIE’s Skyhawk was hit twice by ground fire as he was recovering from his dive-bomb attack. He was forced to eject in the target area and was immediately captured to spend the duration of the war as a POW of the North. He was released nearly six years later in February 1973…
(2) CAPTAIN A.T. DARDEAU and 1LT A.J. LUNDELL were flying an RF-4C of the 12th TRS and 460th TRW out of Tan Son Nhut on a photo reconnaissance mission and had a mid-air collision with an Airlift-International Super Constellation four miles north of Saigon. Both Phantom crewmen ejected and survived. The seven man crew in the Constellation perished, 50 years ago this date…
RIPPLE SALVO… #474… Humble Host has in hand another great Rolling Thunder flight by a pair of Navy junior officers… every word documented as follows…
“A BLACK LION AIDS A WOUNDED AARDVARK”…
On 21 May 1967 USS Kitty Hawk Carrier Air Wing Eleven conducted a successful strike on the Van Dien Vehicle Depot Complex–JCS 63.11– five miles south of Hanoi. During the strike one of the strike group F-4 Phantoms in the TARCAP element was seriously damaged by intense anti-aircraft fire in the Hanoi area. The wounded Phantom, LINFIELD 213 of the VF-114 AARDVARKS, was crewed by LT DENNY WISELY (A MIG-17 Killer on 24 April 1967) and ENSIGN JIM LAING. Winged by the AAA, LINFLIELD 213 fell out of the group and was descending on fire and streaming fuel when espied by LT JOHN NASH piloting F-4 BLACKLION 111. LT NASH and his RIO LTJG BOB KERN, having already delivered their bombs on target, immediately took up chase on the faltering VF-111 AARDVARK amid the intense anti-aircraft opposition in the area a few miles south of Hanoi. Above the pair of Phantoms the sky was host to a dozen surface-to-air missiles and the MIG calls were continuous. Extreme danger persisted in every quadrant.
As BLACKLION 111 joined on the wing of the descending AARDVARK, LT NASH began providing advice to the stricken F-4, including a course change toward the mountains to the west vice the longer planned retirement route eastward back to the Gulf of Tonkin. LT NASH was clear and adamant in his requests and was heard to tell AARDVARK, “F-4 south of the target who’s been hit, get your nose up. Get some power on there and get some altitude.” He saw the F-4 respond and start a gentle climb, but he also saw that AARDVARK was seriously damaged on and about the port wing and stabilizer with flames trailing the port wing. LT NASH immediately advised AARDVARK to shut down the port engine. The response was, “I’m going to have to get out of it.” LT NASH was adamant, “Negative, keep it going, get it over the mountains.” Continuing to provide instructions and advice, LT NASH in BLACKLION 111 escorted the wounded AARDVARK, LINFIELD 213 westward to the relative safety of the mountains and jungles of Laos.
After about fifty miles of flight LT WISELY in LINFIEILD 213 announced that he was losing hydraulics and control of the aircraft. LT NASH advised a course correction to put the impending ejection in the least hostile area for a rescue attempt–toward Thailand, advice which LT WISELY followed. About 80 miles southwest of Hanoi LINFIELD 213 lost control and LT WISELY and ENSIGN LAING ejected. LT NASH began an orbit over the parachutes and reported the crash to rescue forces providing the position and situation. With fuel becoming a critical consideration, LT NASH and LTJG KERN in BLACKLION 111 broke off from the scene as soon as a ResCap flight arrived on the scene. Freed from duty they high-tailed it more than 100-miles east to rendezvous with an airborne tanker over the Gulf of Tonkin to refuel. During this short period LT NASH was monitoring the rescue attempt and was aware of difficulty in locating the downed pair from LINFIELD 213. Immediately after topping off, BLACKLION 111 retraced their flight path across and through North Vietnam defenses to return to the crash site on a desolate mountain among many mountains and the downed LINFIELD 213 duo as they awaited rescue.
LT NASH and LTJG KERN then assisted the ResCap aircraft and helicopters in pinpointing the downed pair of aviators. LT KERN used the Phantom radar to locate the en route rescue aircraft and provided steers to the rescue site. Having brought the ResCap to the LINFIELD 213 AARDVARKS, BLACKLION 111 turned eastward, still alone, and overflew another 110-miles of North Vietnamese defenses to return to USS Kitty Hawk and conclude a gallant three-hour adventure.
A successful rescue was accomplished by an Air Force HH-3 and LT WISELY and ENSIGN LAING, a couple of AARDVARKS, were drinking cold beer and eating ants in Thailand by sundown… Thanks to the conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity of LT NASH and the heroism and extraordinary achievement of LTJG KERN, a couple of BLACKLIONS who dared and did. OOHRAH…
A well earned SILVER STAR for LT NASH and DFC for LTJG KERN followed… Approved by CinCPacFlt (Admiral Roy Johnson) as submitted by USS KITTY HAWK 240930z May 67…
RTR QUOTE of 22 June 1967: YALE MAGRASS: “The way the Vietnam War is remembered is crucial because it shapes attitudes toward subsequent similar military incursions, especially for the generations which were not born during Vietnam.”…. (Humble Host: Of course, if those generations don’t study history, how can the Vietnam experience shape their attitudes?)
Lest we forget… Bear